Windy weather reveals sweet surprise inside toppled tree

The windy weekend revealed a sweet surprise at a home in Portage la Prairie, and it’s got one beekeeper buzzing.

Intense winds across southern Manitoba gusted upwards of 90 kilometres Monday, knocking out power and toppling trees.

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Winnipeg newsletters

It was amid these severe winds that Donald Kitson, a beekeeper for the past 50 years, got a strange call Monday from a homeowner in Portage la Prairie.

A downed tree in Portage la Prairie on Sept. 30, 2024, contained a sweet surprise. (Source: Sheldon Hordeski)

“The wind had brought their tree down, and they phoned me up, and I said, ‘Okay, I'll take a look at it,’” Kitson told CTV News.

But why call a beekeeper for a downed tree? Because, Kitson said, between 5,000 and 6,000 honeybees had made themselves at home inside it.

A downed tree in Portage la Prairie on Sept. 30, 2024, contained a sweet surprise. (Source: Sheldon Hordeski)

“It's actually the first time I've ever done one like this. Yeah, it's an intact hive inside that tree,” he said, estimating the hive is likely about four months old. “They had a nice little unit in there.”

When the wind snapped the tree, it revealed the honeycombs nestled inside. Kitson said the hive is mostly unharmed by the storm.

A downed tree in Portage la Prairie on Sept. 30, 2024, contained a sweet surprise. (Source: Sheldon Hordeski)

He will be heading to the home Tuesday evening and will be carefully cutting the combs out of the tree. He plans to resettle the honeybee colony inside a hive box, where they can settle in for winter.

“There seems to be enough there that hopefully they will make it through the winter,” he said.